The Fifth House
by Visible
Summary: There's a legend of another house at Hogwarts, an unknown one shrowded with mystery. Zacharias Smith stumbles across it by accident. Nothing could prepare him for what lies ahead. He encounters an adventure unwillingly but learns much more in the process.
1. Chapter 1

**The Fifth House**

by Lylian

* * *

Those familiar with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry know that the school is divided into four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. These are the original houses of the traditional school. There is no fifth house.

- - -

Zacharias Smith reluctantly joined the D.A. only because Susan Bones asked him to accompany her. He never could refuse his best friend. However, it was a regret from the beginning.

Much to his annoyance, Susan completely forgot about him at the mere mention of Terry Boot. During meetings, she always paired up with the Ravenclaw, and finally Zacharias realised why he was asked to attend. He was there for moral support, and Zacharias was never good at that.

Consequently, he was left alone in the hostile environment with pompous bigots who relentlessly pushed him around. By the end of the session, he had an aching bum thanks to the Weasley twins and a burnt hand (they weren't even practicing Flame Hexes!) courtesy of his new partner Dean Thomas.

Zacharias' last partner, Anthony Goldstein, refused to pair up with him again because he thought that Zacharias was a 'sore loser.' Zacharias didn't care much for Ravenclaws anyway.

As the D.A. members filed out of the Room of Requirement by threes and fours, Susan hurriedly joined him.

"How was today's session?" she asked, knowing full well that he hated every one.

"Bloody wonderful, as always."

"That's great!" said Susan, either choosing to ignore him or missing his sarcasm. She shifted around to glance at Boot, who was waiting patiently for her. "I think I'll walk with Terry back to the commons. You don't mind, do you?"

"Do I ever?" Zacharias muttered.

At that moment, she did something unexpected—she grabbed hold of his arm affectionately, pulled him closer and whispered, "I know you don't like being here Zacharias, but thank you."

At Harry's cue, Susan then walked off with Terry and his two other friends.

Grumbling less, Zacharias turned to see who was left for him to exit with. His Hufflepuff friends had departed right before Susan had. Those left were the Golden Trio, the Weasley twins, Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, Dean Thomas and Luna Lovegood. It was a given that he would be exiting with Dean and Luna. The others he preferred not to interact with unless absolutely necessary (But if he had a choice, he wouldn't be near any of them).

After Harry checked that strange map of his, he told the next group to leave. Zacharias waited to be sure that he wouldn't be leaving with those arrogant Weasley twins before taking off.

The three of them were walking quietly until Luna spoke up.

"I believe that Cho was trying to hang back in order to talk to Harry today," said Luna out of the blue. "She always does that, and yet, Harry doesn't notice. She probably feels awful."

"Yeah, I noticed," said Dean, amused.

"I would," said Luna pointedly. After a few moments, she abruptly called, "Zacharias Smith."

"Yes?" he answered languidly.

"I don't know what shampoo you use, but it attracts nargles."

"Why do you say that?" Zacharias said with a sneer.

"Because you have one in your hair."

"What?"

Zacharias ran off to the nearest lavatory. He didn't like that Loony Lovegood one bit, but if there was something in this hair, it needed to be removed. Turning in front of the bathroom mirror, Zacharias came to the conclusion that there was nothing there, especially not nargles, whatever those were.

"Stupid Loony," he grumbled, "I don't have anything in my hair."

When he went out again, the two weren't there, not that Zacharias even expected them to wait. He just didn't enjoy walking alone in the corridors when it was past curfew. If he was caught, he had no one to blame.

The seventh floor of Hogwarts was unfamiliar to Zacharias. He had been there only for D.A. meetings. But there was one thing that was for sure; the Gryffindor common room was near the tower, opposite of where he was at. He had seen Gryffindors walk towards the east side whenever they got out of the Room of Requirement. What threw him off was that as he walked through the west wing, there were voices coming from a half-opened portrait.

The floor length portrait of a horse was unremarkable save for two things; it was flanked by two rather large windows on either side, and, where there should have been a wall behind it, there was an opening. Because of the two windows, the opening should have led to the empty space outside instead of a darkened hallway, but then again, Hogwarts was full of surprises.

Zacharias neared and listened to the voices.

"Are you ready to start?" asked a female voice he didn't recognize.

"Give me a moment," said a voice he knew as Dean Thomas. "We only just arrived."

Another girl spoke up. "I find it fascinating when you two go at it." This was clearly Luna Lovegood.

"You would," an unfamiliar male retorted.

By now, Zacharias was beyond interested. There were students inside and outside of the D.A. who also went against Umbridge's objectionable decree.

But what were they up to?

Zacharias took quiet steps into the hallway where he couldn't be seen by anyone yet. He sped up to the other end, where he disappeared into the shadows.

"Did you feel that breeze? Luna, you didn't leave the portrait open again, did you?" The voice was undoubtedly Pansy Parkinson's.

"Well, the latest infestation of nargles is finally reaching Hogwarts and—"

"Luna, just close the portrait. And don't do it again," Pansy commanded. She sounded exasperated. "Now, are we going to start or not?"

From his hiding spot behind a suit of armour, Zacharias tried to inch into the darkness as Luna passed. With a click the portrait was closed. As Luna made her way back, Zacharias could have sworn she glanced straight at him, but perhaps it was just his imagination. She passed without a word.

More curious now than ever, Zacharias moved so that he could see what was going on. The room at the end of the hallway was richly decorated in hues of rich, warm colours. Violet was predominant, but the room was strangely void of furniture. However, this was brushed off, for in the centre was the most interesting assortment of people that immediately caught his eye.

Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson, that quiet boy from Slytherin, and Lisa something-or-other of Ravenclaw. What irked him most was that they were acting civil. Zacharias had never seen members of different houses together acting so respectfully. He also knew that Slytherins and Gryffindors hated each other on principle, so it surprised him when Dean and Pansy spoke.

"You might want to remove that sweater Thomas," said Pansy. "Last time you ruined it."

Dean raised his eyebrows at her and took it off. "If you want."

"Why do you care?" asked the Slytherin boy to Pansy.

Instead of answering, she walked off to the other end of the room to lounge chairs that Zacharias didn't remember being there. Luna and the unnamed Slytherin followed to sit down as spectators to Dean and Lisa, who still stood in the centre of the room. Dean backed up to one side of the long room, while Lisa moved to the other, mirroring him.

They moved into stances that Zacharias had only seen in his History of Magic text, on the pages where battles were depicted. Zacharias realised that they were in a duel stance, but the biggest difference was their lack of wands. Neither held one in their hands, and he wondered when they would pull it out.

From where she sat, Pansy called, "Ready, begin!"

What happened next shocked him to the core. Dean Thomas burst into flames right before his eyes. Yet, as his tall, flaming body moved, Zacharias saw that Dean didn't crumple onto the floor or cry out in agony; Dean was alive beneath those embers.

At the same time, Lisa arched her back and cried an animal-like howl of pain. The back of her school shirt ripped open to reveal white, feathery wings, as large as a hippogriff's. When she looked back up at her opponent, Zacharias found it hard to look her in the eye. She was giving off an aura of light, but it wasn't quite visible.

Immediately, they began to fight.

With a swiftness not unknown to Zacharias, Dean's flaming body instantaneously conjured fireballs in his palm, used to throw at Lisa, who flew three meters above the floor to avoid it.

Closing her eyes to concentrate, Lisa's hands quickly clasped together and apart to create a glowing phenomenon between them. Zacharias had never seen anything like it. Not anywhere in his textbooks or in his experiences with magic did he see it before. The gleaming ball of either energy or light was flung from her hands, forcefully hitting Dean near his legs. He was pushed back five meters with a growl. The two duelers stood mockingly still, waiting for the next move.

Then once again, he struck. Lisa was thrown backwards into the wall behind her, but she got up after a moment with barely a scratch. Concentrating, Lisa created more energy and hurled it towards Dean. He only just caught the blast between his enflamed hands, and headed it her way powerfully. Lisa flew just in time and missed his attack for the second time. Dean's fires grew more enraged.

When Zacharias had just forgotten about the other audience, they made themselves known.

"He's really upset now," said Luna freely.

"Who do you think will win this round?" asked the stringy boy. "Turpin?"

"My money's on Thomas," Pansy answered.

"He barely made it out the last time."

"That's because he just finished duelling you. You can't expect him to be at his prime."

"Well, that means he's not at his best now either. He just came from Potter's little duelling club."

Zacharias' ears immediately perked up at this. How did they know about that?

"Oh look, they're moving," Luna interrupted. Zacharias turned from his thoughts.

The blazing creature enflamed the rest of the ground floor with one flick of his hand. Strangely enough, the side of the room where the spectators sat was untouched by the flames. They didn't even appear to be flushed from the heat. But Zacharias on the other hand quickly moved backwards to avoid burns.

In enflaming the flooring, the Ravenclaw was trapped up in the air, where the fumes of the fire burned in her lungs. Dean was unrecognizable with the blaze all around. He was virtually invisible and couldn't be distinguished from the rest. It hurt Zacharias' eyes to see, but he was so enthralled with the battle that he couldn't make himself mind much.

Lisa flew from one end of the large room to the other, to avoid being stagnant as an easy prey. The wildfire grew, pushing her higher, and from right underneath her, a fireball was thrown. She expertly and quickly created a force field to block him. But other fireballs were thrown immediately after. Another force field was conjured and this time, Lisa strained to keep it. The look of concentration on her face was apparent.

The flying comets stopped abruptly, as her opponent waited for the next move. With frenzied movements, Lisa threw energy through all parts of the fire, trying to capture Dean and figure out where his exact location was. She hit something solid and began her slaughter.

One after another, never ending, Lisa hurled energy to that single point until she had run out. She was wearing out and, with deep breaths, stopped throwing her light.

"Ha, Dean! Give up yet?" said Lisa breathlessly, speaking for the first time throughout their fight.

And from behind her came this: "No, not yet."

Lisa turned around with fright in her eyes, watching as the tall, flaming body jumped from the fire to where she was hovering. The weak force field she had managed to create in time did not stop Dean from pushing her into the wall. The fiery body engulfed her, so that Zacharias didn't know what exactly happened behind that orange curtain.

"Sanctuary!" she called out in a muffled voice.

In an instant, Dean dropped onto the ground, and the fire on him and the ground gathered to the spot in which he stood, collecting until he was completely flame-free, save for the small fire in his palm. He extinguished it by closing his fist and saying gladly, "10 – Dean, 9 – Lisa."

"Bravo!" exclaimed Luna, who was applauding energetically.

With her wings still intact, Lisa dropped gracefully onto the flooring as well, looking dejected. "The fire on the ground was new. It threw me off."

"But I still won," said Dean with a slight smirk on his face. "How long did that take, ten minutes?"

"You may be one point ahead of me now, Dean, but not for long." She said this with a smile.

"That was a new trick Thomas," interrupted Pansy, as the two joined them on the mauve, velvety chairs. "Where'd you learn that?"

"Something I picked up while practicing with Theodore one day," he replied, indicating the Slytherin boy. "I didn't know I could do it until I tried."

"You went practicing without us?" asked Lisa.

"Turpin, you can't expect us to always meet as a group," Theodore said.

"Well, that's not very fair, is it? You're getting in more practice than us."

"No, I don't think that's fair at all." Pansy added with faux spite, "I think we should meet on our own then, girls."

"Oh yes, but we can't meet this Friday because it's a waning moon," said Luna.

The group looked at one another, as if picking who was to answer her awkward statement, so Lisa decided to speak up. "But it's a waning moon tonight as well."

"You know what they say about Fridays and waning moons."

"No, I don't think I'm familiar with that saying."

"Oh."

When Luna didn't go on, the rest of them continued with conversation as if it were a normal occurrence.

At the other end of the room, Zacharias was still dormant in his hidden corner. He didn't know quite what to do but he knew that he had to escape. What he had just witnessed blew him away, but how was he to cope? What was he to do?

Susan would be the first to know about this, then perhaps the headmaster.

The two fighters were completely fine and acting normal. But what was normal now? Zacharias wasn't exactly sure. Normal used to mean using wands to throw hexes and curses, not sprout wings spontaneously and start conjuring fireballs from the palm of your hand.

From behind the suit of armour, he rushed towards the exit. But to his great surprise, there was no exit. The wall where the back of the portrait used to be was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place. He pushed and pushed, but the solid wall didn't budge. Just as he began to panic, the voices in the other room grew louder.

"We had a visitor today," Luna said randomly.

With a sharp tone, Pansy said, "What?"

"We had a visitor."

"What do you mean Luna?" asked Lisa gently.

"I mean, someone has been watching us."

"What! Why didn't you say anything?" cried Pansy.

"Who?" said Theodore.

"He's in the hallway."

"How did you know he was there?" Dean asked.

"I smelled him," Luna answered. "He's still here, in the Gryffindor entrance."

The hurried footfalls of the others running made Zacharias' heartbeat speed up. He raced to his former hiding place behind the suit of armour and disappeared into the darkness, hoping that he wouldn't be found by the extraordinarily frightening wizards.

- - -

**Author's Note: **I've been struck by another idea and hope beyond hope that I can make it go places. I already have the basics of the plot figured out, and I'm in the process of completing Chapter Three. Two is finished, but I think I'll wait a week or so before posting another one. I hope you enjoyed this first tidbit. It's a little vague, and it keeps you mostly in the dark, but I hope that doesn't hinder you from enjoying the first installment. Please review! (And thanks to those who have put this story on their faves or their alerts!)


	2. Chapter 2

With the others behind her, Luna sniffed several times through her nostrils, moving in Zacharias' general direction. She pointed a finger directly to Zacharias' face and said, "There."

Zacharias stumbled into their vision as blue coloured energy shot his way from Lisa's hands. He felt as if he were petrified from the neck down, but his body involuntarily floated into the lighted area.

"Look what we have here," sneered Pansy, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's a Puff," Theodore said.

"Let me go!" cried Zacharias, struggling from the stiffness of the force field.

"Zacharias Smith?" Dean questioned, finally recognizing him. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to get out of this binds, but you've got me captive! Once the headmaster hears about this—"

"About what?" Pansy asked aggressively, leaning in to his face. "You're not in any position to make threats, Puff."

"Let him go," Luna spoke up. "He hasn't done a thing."

"Not just yet. How did you get in, Zacharias?" questioned Lisa.

"I'm not answering anything until you let me go!"

"I'm really sorry, but we can't trust you."

"Don't play sympathy with him, Lisa." Pansy demanded Zacharias, "Answer the question."

This time as she, Theodore, and Dean neared, Zacharias could feel the heat of not just their glares, but of actual fire.

"How did you get in?" Lisa repeated.

Zacharias weighed his options. If he didn't play his cards right, he could be Obliviated to an unknown state of mind. He could think in the terms of a five year old, if they so wished. He could be turned to ashes even. That couldn't happen. Finally, he succumbed.

"The portrait was opened."

Pansy glared at Luna, saying, "I've told you to keep it closed."

"Nargles," stated Luna, as a matter of fact.

"Never mind that," said Dean, quelling the argument. "How much did you hear, Smith?"

At this, Zacharias snorted. "I saw much more than what I could have heard."

"That's it," said Theodore. "Obliviate him."

"That's illegal if you don't have his consent," hissed Lisa.

"Not in the Netherlands," Luna piped. "Everything's legal there."

"Well, we're not exactly in the Netherlands, are we?" Pansy retorted. "I say we Obliviate him."

"I'm going to have to agree. He knows too much," said Dean.

"NO!" Lisa cried out. "We can't do that!"

They continued with this debate for a while before Lisa finally yielded. She argued and repeated, but in the end, there were too many against her decision. Zacharias couldn't believe how hard she fought for it; he could almost kiss her. That was until she gave in.

"Alright, Obliviate him if you have to, but only to the moment where he came to the opened portrait."

Theodore pulled out his wand and placed it against Zacharias' head.

"_Obliv_—"

"Wait!" he exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," said Pansy sardonically. "But what you say doesn't matter."

Dean elbowed her arm.

"No, really you can't do this," Zacharias told them.

"And why not?"

"I—I have powers too. Extraordinary ones, like you do."

Zacharias sounded reluctant. His statement was so quiet, that they thought perhaps it wasn't said at all.

"He's lying," stated Theodore.

"I'm not! I can show you. If you could just let me go, I can show you."

He stared into Lisa's eyes, because he could see that she was willing to grant him the benefit of the doubt. She was stirred and interested. Dean was also showing signs of thoughtfulness.

"I don't believe you," Pansy said.

"He may just want to be free," said Luna.

Zacharias pleaded like he never had in his life. "Just let me show you."

"Well, he can't go anywhere. I might as well let him go," Lisa told them.

"I don't know," said Dean apprehensively.

"I've seen what you two have done. You know that I wouldn't try anything. You two could kill me if you wanted to. I'm just going to show you that we're not all that different."

Of all people, Pansy smirked. "You know what? Alright. Let's see what Mr. Hot Shot can do."

The group backed away, and as Lisa removed his bindings, Zacharias Smith disappeared into thin air.

"He Apparated!" exclaimed Lisa.

Theodore's eyes narrowed. "He couldn't have; he didn't have a wand in his hand."

"And you can't Apparate on school grounds," Dean added, moving into his defence stance.

"Wandless Apparation was his power?" asked Luna.

There was confusion, with everyone looking for any traces of Zacharias. Meanwhile, Pansy backed up until she was seated in a chair with full view of the entire room.

"I know you're still here, Puff. I can feel your presence."

Slowly, the rest of the group backed up towards the four hallways in the four corners of the grand room, gathering their defences.

Pansy continued. "So you can become invisible. That's convenient, but that doesn't mean we can't find you. It may be more difficult, but there's no escaping this room without getting through one of us."

Luna inhaled deeply, and immediately pointed in the direction of the large stained glass window. "He's there!"

As soon as they rushed forward, a gust of wind blew past them.

"Did he open that window to escape?" asked Lisa, moving her arms wildly around her, as if to find an invisible something.

"You can't open that window," Theodore replied.

"The tapestry!" Luna exclaimed, pointing towards the other end of the room.

As soon as they got there, a wind picked up and blew Lisa into flight.

"There are no windows open," Lisa said, confused.

"That means he's in the wind." After this revelation, Dean burst into flames once again. "I can deal with some extra oxygen."

Dean stepped forward with searching eyes. "C'mon Zacharias. We've duelled earlier. Why don't you stop hiding and fight?" He was intentionally baiting Zacharias.

Suddenly, the wind blew in a twister around Dean, faster and faster, until his flames flickered, and he began to gasp for air.

Lisa cried out and threw a force towards the fast spinning twister that surrounded Dean. It bounced off and hit the stone wall violently.

Dean was still struggling for breaths, caged by something invisible.

With a resolute face, Theodore put himself into the twisting madness in attempts to pull Dean away, but he too was thrown towards the wall.

Pansy stood up quickly, but was interrupted by Lisa's call of: "Stop! Can't you see, you're hurting him?"

The wind subsided.

Lisa ran to Dean, asking if he was alright. Pansy, meanwhile, was saying to the air surrounding, "You've caught us by surprise, I'll admit. But I'm far from impressed."

She turned her gaze to Theodore, who was off to her left, saying, "Behind me."

Theodore ran behind Pansy and crashed into an invisible solid.

"Gotcha!"

Suddenly, Zacharias was visible again, and struggling from Theodore's strong grip. With a flick of her hand, Lisa stilled Zacharias with a force field.

"So, you were telling the truth," Pansy prodded.

"Of course I was!"

"No need to be so touchy, Puff."

She turned her back to Zacharias, as the group gathered in whispers.

Zacharias sneered with distain. Now they were going to Obliviate him, he knew it. The irony killed him. He had never in his life shown anyone his powers before, because he had heard of other Unusuals out there too. They were looked down upon by Wizarding society, because they were exceptional and because they were unique. They were feared by those who had lesser forms of magic. But Zacharias had never met any others. As far as he knew, they were a fable. In childhood, he had been told stories of heroes with wandless magic, but they never existed in real life, until now.

And now he was going to forget he had ever met any. The Unusuals would stay a myth forever. What a quirk of fate.

"He's able to do extraordinary things," he heard Lisa say resolutely. Zacharias strained his hearing a little more to discover what they were planning to do with him. The broken conversation answered no questions of his dilemma.

"…wasn't sorted?"

"…no, there's no way…"

"Well, I say that we do it…"

The Gryffindor took a furtive glance his way.

"Ask him," Dean said simply to Pansy.

The way he said that reminded Zacharias of his father's quiet commands; commands that gave no room for dispute. Strikingly, Pansy, who Zacharias believed to be the unspoken representative of the group, agreed to Dean's suggestion without so much as an argument. He expected much more from this seemingly divergent girl.

Her stiff movements only brought Zacharias back on his guard, especially since the rest of them stood in confident reassurance of…well, of something.

"You're given a choice, Smith. Some of us," she glared over her shoulder, "believe that you have more value than I'd _ever_ give you credit for. We won't Obliviate you on one condition: this Sunday, at 7pm you meet us here for a duel—"

"Why would you even ask something like that? You've seen what I did to Thomas, I could do that to each of you, given the chance!"

From behind Pansy, Dean flicked his hand open with an intense fire.

"You don't scare me," said Zacharias, eyeing the deep shade of blue the fire was turning.

"I wasn't finished," Pansy continued, grinding her teeth. "You duel each of us, separately, just to assess your powers."

"And that's it?" Zacharias replied sceptically.

"That's it."

"And if I don't agree?"

"We erase your memory right now," Pansy said, pulling out her wand.

"What makes you think that if I do agree to duel you that I won't go tell a professor about this little 'club'? Because I'm positive that Umbridge has no idea about your meetings."

"_Don't_ try to threaten me, Puff. I have ways to make you regret."

She said that as if he had something to fear. Wait, did he have reason to fear? She hadn't as of yet shown any signs of exquisite powers. She only had that haughty confidence and proud self-importance that she carried around like a peacock's feathers. However, Zacharias was on his toes whenever a word left her lips. Was instinct telling him something? The others pretty much left her to her own devices, as if she needed nothing but their assent of her significance.

_Was she something to fear?_ The words reverberated in his head.

"So what will you have?"

He didn't want to meet with them. They had to have some ulterior motive to make him come back when it was so obvious that he was unwanted. There were ways out of this; he just needed some time to figure it out. For now, he had made his decision.

"This Sunday then?" Zacharias asked gruffly.

Pansy smiled with all the teeth of a predator.

"Yes, this Sunday."

The force holding him immediately disappeared and Zacharias was let go. Luna led him to an exit.

"Oh, and Smith? You'll do well to keep your mouth shut about this," Pansy said.

The door was shut behind him.

- - -

**Author's Note:** Next chapter should be out in a few weeks. Tell me what you really think so far. I have the plot all set up in my head, but I just hope I write it as skillfully as possible. Please review!


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